Gangseo Korean restaurant with outdoor tables and medium-spicy jjusam: Jju Baksa

A webfoot octopus place close to Yangcheon Hyanggyo Station

I've been craving spicy food nonstop lately, so I searched for good spicy restaurants, and this jjukkumi (webfoot octopus) place near Yangcheon Hyanggyo Station in Magok-dong had great reviews and people said it's the kind of spot you line up for, so off I went🤗 It's 152 m from Exit 8 of Yangcheon Hyanggyo Station on Line 9, about a 3-minute walk, so it's super easy to get to by public transport!🤗

If you're driving, there's an underground parking lot so parking is easy, and they validate your parking time too! Groups are welcome, and they do takeout, delivery, reservations, free Wi-Fi, and separate men's/women's restrooms.

The wait and the atmosphere

As you'd expect from a popular jjukkumi spot, there can be a wait‼️ If there's a line when you arrive, write your name on the list and wait!! There's a menu board out front too, so you can check the menu before you go in👍

Inside there are about 8 four-person tables, so it seems great for work dinners, get-togethers or dates, and in weather like this, eating outside is just perfect, right‼️ They have outdoor terrace tables too, so you can enjoy it al fresco! There are a lot of flight attendants around Yangcheon Hyanggyo, and maybe that's why there were noticeably lots of pretty people around haha. Guess this is a spot that flight attendants come to a lot too hahaha

Not just flight attendants—plenty of famous celebrities must have come through too, because the walls are covered in autographs! Officially a legit good restaurant👍 On top of that, the kitchen is open so you can watch the food being made, which made me trust it even more.

Ordering the jjusam set for 2 with drink

The sides come out as the perfect match for jjukkumi👏 Perilla leaves, pickled radish wraps, cheonsachae (glass noodle salad), bean sprouts, corn butter and more, all great for eating alongside the spicy octopus.

I ordered the set menu with drink🤗 Jjusam (webfoot octopus with pork belly) for 2 = steamed egg + self-made rice balls + corn butter + 15 g flying fish roe + 1 drink. All that for ₩35,000—great value, right!? You can pick mild, medium or spicy, and just in case, I went with medium! 🤗

While waiting for the food to cook, time to squish together some rice balls!

The cheese steamed egg was fluffy and soft with a generous layer of cheese on top, so rich and savory🧀🥚 Eating it with the spicy octopus tamed the heat too—great combo👍

Medium-spicy jjukkumi stir-fried by the staff

The staff stir-fry all the jjukkumi for you until it's ready to eat, so it's really easy!

So while we chatted and nibbled on the side dishes, before we knew it, it was deliciously done haha

I ordered medium, and it was spicy but with the savory depth intact—really tasty. Put pickled radish on a perilla leaf, add the octopus and flying fish roe, then a little peanut sauce, and it's seriously heavenly⭐️

The portion was bigger than I expected, which I loved! The outdoor seating is roomy too, so enjoying it outside on a nice day was just great!!

Finishing with fried rice

After polishing off the jjukkumi, the finale is of course fried rice!!! The sauce is so good that the fried rice at the end was a real treat too🤗

There are candies for dessert, and thoughtfully, hair ties and dental floss too, which was a nice touch! If you want spicy food at an outdoor table, I recommend Jju Baksa near Yangcheon Hyanggyo Station👍 The portions are generous and the outdoor tables are roomy, so you can properly enjoy tasty food along with that open-air terrace vibe‼️